India: Political Economic and Social Challenges

1
India Political Economic and Social Challenges

• By
• Susmita Gongulee Thomas
• May 25, 2006

2
Challenges- Internal, Regional Global

• Social
• Burgeoning population 1.08 billion, related
  problems environment, poverty, health,
  education, housing water, food and jobs
• Economic
• Jobs, growth and infrastructure, inflation due to
  oil price rise, trade
• Political
• Terrorism, separatist movements, fractures due to
  religious divergences despite traditional
  tolerance

3
India's opportunity and challenge

• 56 years we have achieved quantum jumps in many
  fields.
• Technology is the best example. IT, Atomic energy
  and Space were indigenously developed and
  leapfrogged us into 21st century. Similar trends
  in the manufacturing sector
• Transition from a predominantly commodity-based
  agrarian economy to a knowledge economy is
  already underway.
• Challenge before India is how to telescope
  social, economic and developmental processes with
  technological growth
• How can we accelerate this, even as we protect
  the interests and enhance the income of
  agriculturists?
• How do we move mind-sets from the 19th century to
  the 21st?

4
Turning Challenges Into Achievements- Demographic

• Burgeoning population 1.08 billion
• Well-educated in English language, software
  services/medical/technicians
• Second largest skilled technical manpower in the
  world
• 24 years Median age 700 million people of 1.1
  billion are young. Young population will continue
  till 2050
• 290,000 engineers graduate annually 300,000
  technically trained graduates every year

5
Progress of Social Indicators

• Poverty (incidence)
• 1980s 1990s 2000
• 44 36 26
• Education (literacy rate)
• 1980s 1990s 2000
• 44 52 65
• Health (life expectancy)
• 1980s 1990s 2000
• 56 60 69(men)
• 33.3
  58.1(women)

6
Turning Challenges Into AchievementsDevelopmental

• Population growth rate fell from an average
  annual rate of 3.1 in 1947 to around 1.38 in
  2006.

7
India Utilising people to advantage

• Business Week of 8th December 2003 "Quietly but
  with breathtaking speed, India and its millions
  of world-class engineering, business and medical
  graduates are becoming enmeshed in America's New
  Economy in ways most of us barely imagine".
• It is estimated that there are 120,000 IT
  professionals in Silicon Valley.

8
Turning Challenges Into Achievements- Economic

• Green revolution 1967 to 1978. a record grain
  output of 131 million tons in 1978-79. world's
  biggest agricultural producers. And exporter of
  food grains today 212.0 million tonnes
• Economic greater need for water, fertilizer,
  pesticides, fungicides etc. spurred growth of
  manufacturing sector, created new jobs, increased
  country's GDP.
• Increased irrigation created need for new dams,
  used to create hydro-electric power. boosted
  industrial growth, created jobs and improved
  quality of life of rural people.
• India paid back all World Bank loans for Green
  Revolution. improved India's creditworthiness.
• India supplied Canada with farmers experienced in
  Green Revolution. Their remittances added to our
  foreign exchange earnings.
• Sociological created jobs for agricultural and
  industrial workers thru creation of factories and
  hydro-electric power stations
• Political India transformed itself from a
  starving nation to an exporter of food. This
  earned admiration for  India in the comity of
  nations, especially in the Third World.

9
India Pharmaceuticals

• Indian pharmaceutical industry 6.5 billion,
  growing at 8-10 annually, 4th largest
  pharmaceutical industry in the world by volume,
  it is expected to be US12 billion by 2008, with
  exports over 2 billion.
• India is among the top five bulk drug makers.
• There are 170 biotechnology companies in India,
  involved in the development and manufacture of
  genomic drugs, whose business is growing
  exponentially.
• Sequencing genes and delivering genomic
  information for big pharmaceutical companies is
  the next boom industry in India.
• New emerging industries areas include,
  Bio-Informatics, Bio-Technology, Genomics,
  Clinical Research and Trials.

10
Reviving Secular Tolerance

• "In India today,
• we have a lady born a Catholic (Sonia Gandhi)
• stepping aside so a Sikh (Manmohan Singh)
• could be sworn in by a Muslim president (Abdul
  Kalam)
• to lead a nation that's 82 Hindu.
• I defy anyone to cite another country with such
  diversity and tolerance to its political
  leadership."

11
Turning Challenges Into Achievements-Technology

• Indigenous Space technology used to take
  education and development to remote rural areas,
  via television. The Satellite Instructional TV
  Experiment (SITE) 1975-76, used a state-of-the
  -art US satellite to broadcast TV programmes
  directly to community sets in villages
• This became todays DTH, or direct-to-home
  broadcasting.
• India-developed direct reception system a
  cutting-edge technology enabling remote villages,
  without electricity, to view TV programmes
• a great stride forward in using satellite TV t
  reach rural children with high-quality education,
  
• Reached adults with vital inputs for agriculture,
  health and empowerment.
• Challenge of reach overcome using technology and
  with socio-economic benefits.

12
Self Reliance in Technology

• In 1968, India imported 9M tonnes of food-grains.
  Today, it has a food grain surplus stock of 60
  Million tonnes.
• India built its own Supercomputer after US denial
  of a Cray computer sale in 1987.
• India is one of 3 countries that have built
  Supercomputers on their own. (USA and Japan)
• Indias new PARAM Padma Terascale Supercomputer
  (1 Trillion processes per sec.) Only 4 nations in
  the world have this capability.

• India is one of six countries that launch
  satellites, for Germany, Belgium, South Korea,
  Singapore and EU countries.
• India's INSAT is among the world's largest
  domestic satellite communication systems.
• Indias Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle
  (GSLV) was indigenously manufactured, most
  components manufactured by Indian industry.
• India provides aid to 11 countries, and writing
  off their debts.
• India has loaned IMF US 300 Million.
• It has also prepaid 3Billion to World Bank and
  ADB

13
The Challenges Ahead
14
Challenges Lie Ahead

• Several formidable challenges remain
• Exploding population 1.08bn to 1.63bn people,
  overtaking China, (forecast 1.44bn from 1.3bn ),
• Resulting environmental degradation
• Poverty,
• Illiteracy,
• Ruptures and cleavages based on region, religion,
  language and gender-threatening the social
  fabric,
• Urban congestion,
• Wounded eco-systems
• Critical power and energy situation.
• Water food shortage

15
Recognizing Challenges

• India recognizes reform can not be focused only
  on economic challenges
• Need to integrate social and environmental
  dimensions
• Encourage widespread participation of civil
  society, businesses, local governments and non
  governmental organizations in reform efforts.
• Increasing democratic participation, better
  positions it to confront growing social and
  environmental challenges, such as rural distress,
  resource misuse, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

16
Strategy For Overcoming Challenges

• Employment generation
• Sustaining high growth levels
• Encouraging R D in high technology
• Increasing manufacturing base to add jobs
• Greater investment in infrastructure to bolster
  private sector demand for labour
• Reducing poverty levels by boosting manufacturing
  output, reducing workers in basic agriculture,
  raising agricultural incomes
• labor laws in line with global best practices
• Policies to control Environmental degradation

17
Challenges Ahead- Economic

• India self-sufficiency in food grain production,
  yields four-fold. Food Corporation storages
  possess best-fed rodent population in the world,
  with starvation deaths in far flung areas.
  Provision of quality infrastructure is therefore
  vital
• Address issues of infrastructure bottlenecks,
  high cost of power, high inland freight cost,
  high cost of credit
• Targets for development An investment plan of
  US38 billion in the expanded highways programme,
  US13.4 billion in ports and US 8.9 billion in
  airports.
• Competitive edge lies in knowledge and
  technology, so greater investment in RD.
• Public Private Partnership to adopt policies to
  ensure long-term technology security/superiority
  Indian industry will be able to compete with the
  best in the world.

18
Regional Challenges

• India committed to a South Asian Union as
  ultimate objective, with mutual security
  cooperation, open borders and a single currency
• India has the capacity and tradition to welcome
  its neighbours in education, in health care, in
  tourism, in trade and investment
• .Friends, India is ready to do everything that
  is necessary, to walk as many extra miles as may
  be required, to make this vision a reality.
• Regionally, India recognizes it has a major role
  to play in fostering south-to-south cooperation
  and strengthening regional economic ties
• Taken pragmatic steps to resolve the
  long-standing Indo-Pakistan dispute, address
  current disputes over resources like water, help
  return democracy to Nepal.

19
Challenges of globalization

• The rise of the developing world, particularly of
  China and India, is reshaping the world economic
  and political order.
• Sir Martin Sorrell, Group Chief Executive, Wire
  Plastic Products (WPP) United Kingdom 2006. The
  dominance of the US and the dominance of Europe
  particularly Western Europe is eclipsed. What
  were witnessing is a sharp shift in wealth in a
  relatively short period of time from West to
  East.
• Never before in the history of mankind did a
  country with democratic dispensation have to feed
  so many poor, teach so many illiterates and
  simultaneously compete with the most advanced
  countries for a place under the sun.

20
Further Challenges of Globalization

• New dimension globalization of both economy and
  geopolitics.
• Rapidly growing uneven cross-border flows of
  goods, services, people, money, technology,
  information, ideas, culture, crime, and weapons
• Current globalization unique revolution in
  information technology, electronic mail, and
  instant availability of information.
• Changing economic landscape, need for new jobs,
  for new mindsets, and changing identities/struggle
  s around the globe, exacerbating imbalances in
  the global economy

21
India Future Global Leader

• Indias Future as an international leader rests
  on
• Political will to achieve good governance
  domestically
• Foster constructive partnerships regionally and
  globally

22
GOI TARGETS

• Focus to eradicate poverty
• GDP growth rate of at least 6 per annum over the
  next 10 years
• Provision of basic minimum services safe
  drinking water, primary healthcare, primary
  education, public housing to all shelter less,
  mid-day meal scheme to all primary schools, road
  connectivity, streamlining public distribution
  system
• Universal employment to guarantee 100 days of
  work
• Universal literacy.
• Agricultural growth thru improved productivity
• Efforts to promote rural farm and non-farm
  employment
• Improved access to credit and other resources.
• Maintain our competitive edge, thru R D ,
  knowledge and technology growth

23
India As Role Model

• The history of the 20th Century is behind us its
  consequences are with us. We have all come to
  live with the reality of the new political,
  economic and social realities of our globe.
• Indias transformation can serve as a blueprint
  for sovereignty and democratic nationhood for
  other countries in the developing world that are
  tackling the challenges of development and
  leadership.
• Positioned as we are, geographically and
  economically, India has a pivotal role in the
  region and in the world.
• India fully prepared to shoulder its
  responsibilities and provide opportunities and
  extend cooperation to others.

24
Innovative Cooperation with Chile

• TCS purchased Comicrom for US 23 million back
  office
• Indian pharmaceuticals reach US22 million from
  US 8 million approximately in one year
• i-Flex Solutions working with Banco de Chile US
  15 million, Banco de Desarollo, Security Bank
  and International Bank - banking software
• Trans-Santiago Consortium awarded to Indias TATA
  Group -transportation
• Corpora Tresmontes placed an order for
  bio-mass-fired boilers for US 400,000
  fromThermax India Ltd- using agrowaste

25
CONCLUSION

• Confidence in India, in our democracy and in our
  economy, has never been higher.
• We have been able to restore the pluralistic
  ethos that is the essence of India.
• We have been able to reverse a dangerous trend of
  intolerance that had begun to eat into the vitals
  of our nation and restore pluralism, tolerance
  and compassion.
• We have been able to replace debates that sought
  to divide the nation with debates that matter to
  everyday living of the people, debates on issues
  of concern to the common man.
• There is active discussion in government, media
  and civil society about options for growth,
  poverty reduction, education, health, employment,
  basic facilities, infrastructure, empowering
  people and helping marginalized and weaker
  sections catch up. Such debates are the
  life-blood of our democracy.

26
Our Focus For the Future

• A.P J Kalam President of India
• A nation of a billion people rising to its
  potential is an exciting feeling.
• As a nation we have collectively decided to sink
  the differences of the past
• we have restored to our polity a sense of
  healing
• we have restored to our society a sense of
  inclusiveness
• we have given our economy a sense of purpose.
• Our economy is on the move and our people are on
  the march.
• We have recognized our challenges and we are
  working to address them.